There's no simple way to trade an NFL coach

SANTA CLARA, CALIF. – The San Francisco 49ers are expected to part ways with Jim Harbaugh, their headstrong but highly successful coach, soon after Sunday's season finale. The Oakland Raiders, who once traded away a charismatic, ambitious young coach, are among the candidates to be on the receiving end this time — if Harbaugh chooses to stay in the NFL.

How do you trade a coach? It's more complicated than trading a player, which explains why it has happened only a handful of times in the modern era, albeit involving some of the biggest names in coaching — Gruden, Bill Belichick, Bill Parcells and Dick Vermeil, to name a few.

It's such tricky process that the 49ers might have to fire Harbaugh if they can't swing a deal — or if he refuses to play along. (He would have to sign off on any deal and might not be in the mood to make things easy on his bosses.)

Harbaugh won like crazy, especially over his first three seasons when the team went 36-11-1 and reached three NFC title games and a Super Bowl.

But along the way he has clashed with 49ers CEO Jed York and General Manager Trent Baalke, who have apparently concluded Harbaugh-induced headaches now outweigh the victories.

Harbaugh has one season remaining on a five-year deal that pays him $5 million per year. But, strange as it sounds for a coach getting pushed out of town, he's also in position to earn a significant raise.

This is where it gets complicated. Unlike most NFL players, head coaches under contract have veto power when it comes to their trade destination. It's essentially a two-step process: 1. The two teams need to agree on compensation. 2. The new team would need to work out a contract with the coach (whose current contract doesn't generally get shipped over).

Harbaugh, despite falling out of favor amid a 7-8 season, is the hottest name on the market.

"He's been an excellent football coach, and we're losing sight of that because of all the distractions," former coach Herman Edwards said in a phone interview.

Edwards, now an ESPN analyst, was technically the last NFL coach to be traded. In 2006, the New York Jets agreed to let Edwards out of his contract so that he could replace Vermeil with the Kansas City Chiefs. The Jets haggled for a bit but settled for a fourth-round draft pick.

The compensation for Harbaugh is tougher to peg. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reported last offseason that the Cleveland Browns were poised to offer two third-round draft picks for the 49ers coach. But now Harbaugh is a year closer free agency and coming off a tumultuous season, so the asking price likely has fallen.

Could Harbaugh step down from his 49ers post in order to move on? If he did, he would be stuck because of the NFL's anti-tampering policy, which states that "an employee under contract to a member club … who voluntarily resigns or retires prior to the expiration of his contract, is not free to discuss or accept employment with another NFL club without the consent of the prior-employer club."

In Harbaugh's case, it's tough to imagine the 49ers commanding the type of package Oakland got for Jon Gruden in 2002. The Buccaneers surrendered their 2002 and 2003 first-round draft picks. The Raiders also received two second-round picks and $8 million in the deal.

As the 49ers stagger toward their final game, no one is bothering to pretend that Harbaugh will be back.

"Harbaugh will continue to be a great coach," Edwards said. "But this is something we tell players all the time when we [part ways with them], 'Hey, you're going to be a good player. But you don't fit in this system, and in this philosophy right now."